Bye Bye Birdie
by TurnaroundAndfaceyourFate
Summary: The night before Iggy leaves to go live with his real parents, what goes down? Neph is one year younger than Iggy, and Nudge never existed.  i do not own MR! i only own Neph and new characters that may appear.


After most of the kids were in bed, I followed Max and Fang into the living room.

I loved Max when I was a little kid, but I'm not a kid anymore. I know that her and Fang are a thing. And I know that Angel hates it when Max calls her baby. That Gazzy and Iggy hid all their bombs in the pockets of their windbreakers. Max was clueless when it came to the rest of the flock. She was too involved with herself to care anymore.

"Neph, would you wait up until I get back?" Max smiled at me.

Why no. I thought. How about Fang waits up so I can sleep? But noooo. Fang's going with you. To do god knows what.

"Sure Max. No problem." I grinned at her.

"That's my girl." she jumped out the window and Fang followed, winking at me. Gross. I rolled my eyes and clicked on the TV, scrolling through the guide for TLC.

I got through half an episode of Say Yes to the Dress when I heard a voice from the hall.

"I think 16 and pregnant is on channel 46."

I smirked and moved over on the couch so Iggy wouldn't sit on me.

"Like ohmigod no way. how did you know?" I asked sarcastically.

He rolled his sightless blue eyes and picked up the remote.

"Um, can I help you ma'am?" I snatched the remote from his hand.

"Well, for starters sir, you can give me back the clicker." he wriggled his fingers in my direction. I slapped his hand.

"Why do you need the remote anyways? It's not like you can see what's on." I stared at him, my smirk useless.

"What?" He gasped, clutching his chest. "I can't see? Oh no. How will I liiiive?" He slouched over on the couch pretending to die.

"Why are you up anyways?" I asked, ignoring his sarcasm.

He continued to lay there with his mouth wide open and started snoring loudly. I reached over for the pillow next to me and swung it over on Iggy's face.

"Okay, okay!" he sat up slowly, covering his face in case I hit him again. "I couldn't sleep." He shrugged, his gaze fixed on the TV.

"Aww, did your nightlight break again? Or is it the hideous monster under your bed?" I mocked.

He didn't answer, just kept staring blankly at the television. The corner of his mouth twitched, the way it did whenever he got nervous. I pressed my lips together and grabbed his hand. He turned towards me, startled.

"It's going to be okay Ig," I started to say. "They're going to love you. Wings and blindness and tallness and all. And even your smart ass comments to everything anyone says. And you can cook so that's good. 'Cause what if your mom can't cook? I mean, that'd be weird and all because what mom can't cook? Not that I would know or anything. Your so lucky you actually found your parents and they're not complete nut suckers. That we know of. Anyways, but just on days when you screw up and forget to clean your room or something, you can suck up to her and make her favorite meal ever. Or-" I stopped to catch my breath and Iggy cut in while he had the chance.

"Neph, I'm not scared that my parents won't want me, well yeah actually, I am. I'm terrified. But what about the flock? It's like you guys don't need me anymore. 'Oh good, the blind kid's gone. Now we can do whatever and we're not going to get tied down in a fight.' I know Max always tries to plan around me. Everyone's so careful to make sure I know what's going on. Which, don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for that. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm glad I won't be a burden for the flock anymore." Iggy mumbled so quietly that I could barely hear, even with my raptor senses.

I sat there speechless. How could he think that? When was he ever a burden? Sure, maybe that time when Angel was kidnapped by the whitecoats and taken to the School. Max had made him and the Gasman stay back in Colorado. She'd told them flat out that she didn't want to be held back by a little kid and blind guy. I knew that killed him, Gazzy too.

"Iggy. You're not a burden." I said slowly. "We all have our genetically enhanced flaws. With you, it happens to be your blindness. Me, my inability to stop yapping, and Angel? Well. I think you can figure that out all by yourself. The GASman, obviously. Fang is too protective. And Max, just doesn't understand us." I took a breath an kept going. "Whatever you decide to do Iggy, I've got your back. Even if I do give you crap all the time. You know that right?" I squeezed his hand, hard. He had closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the couch.

"You do have the inability to ever shut your mouth don't you?" He smiled down at me and lifted my hand to his chest, making my heart give a little squeeze. "I know, Nephie. I got your back too. And I'm still going to give you shit, you know that right?" he looked worried, like the moment had killed our habit of relentless teasing.

I laughed. "Yes Iggy. I know. But maybe it can start tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," he frowned and dropped my hand.

It hit me then. I was going to lose my best friend to a couple of strangers. I knew what his decision was going to be, I knew he was going to stay with his parents. I'd probably stay with mine if we had found them instead of Iggy's. Why would somebody say no to that? He'd finally found them, after years of wondering and searching. He deserved to stay. I'm sure they would treat him better than we ever did. Sure, we all give each other a hard time. But we love everybody in the flock. Nobody should leave, we're a family, we belong together.

"Why are you crying?" Iggy asked softly.

I turned away from him, using the sleeve on my hoodie to dry my face. "I'm not crying." I lied. "Why would I be crying?"

I felt Iggy's long fingers on my face, his thumb catching a runaway tear.

"Dammit," I mumbled and closed my eyes. I pressed my face into his pale hands, breathing him in. He always smelled a little like a camp fire, camp fire and dirt.

Iggy really was leaving, and I have no idea if I'm ever going to see him again.

"Iggy," I twisted around so I was leaning on his arm, with my head in his shoulder.

He cradled me against his chest and patted my mane of hair.

"Your hair's so pretty." he whispered. "It's soft." he sighed.

We sat there, while Iggy played with my hair as I cried against his shirt, soaking it with my tears.

"I remember when we were at the School, and I could still see." Iggy said slowly. My sobs became shuddering breaths as I listened.

"You were seven. And you and I were playing a game in our cages. We had to find anything in the lab that wasn't white." he smiled, remembering, and I shuttered. Completely different reactions. "You had spied a beaker with this grey stuff inside. But I said that it didn't count because grey was an ugly color. You got mad and said you didn't want to play anymore because I was winning." he paused.

"Your wings are grey stupid." I whispered to his shirt.

"Hey kid, I'm trying to tell a story here. Anyways, there was a window, you could see the trees. We used to imagine escaping through those trees, and running away from those dammed whitecoats. I said that I saw those green trees and that I should win because green was such a better color than grey.

"But you want to know something?" he asked. "the blinds were closed that day. I couldn't see outside."

I gasped. "You cheated! You took advantage of a little mutant kid."

"But I did see green! Before the whitecoats took me, it was the last thing I saw." Iggy said.

"What did you see?" I whispered. I remembered that day, the whitecoats took Iggy from the cage for more experimenting. It was weeks before any of us saw him again. When he finally got dumped back into the lab, he was blind. They had tried to enhance his eyesight, oops.

"You." he whispered back. "I remember your big green eyes and your messy blonde hair. How scared you were when they grabbed me. I closed my eyes after that. I didn't want to see anything else. I thought I was going to die that day, and I wanted your face to be the last thing I ever saw." he buried his face in my hair. "And it was."

There was a lump in my throat. This was the most Iggy's ever opened up to anyone in the flock. We had to learn to hid our emotions, to tough it out while we were running from the whitecoats. It took a lot to break any of us. Even Angel, and she's only six. But with Max, Fang and Iggy, they had to be even stronger. We looked up to them. I'll give Max that much. She's a tough one. Me? I have my moments.

I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him to me. "Don't leave Iggy." I begged. "Stay with the flock, we need you! I need you." I mumbled the last part.

He wrinkled his brow. "You've never needed me before."

"Yes! I've always needed you." I shook my head, frustrated. "God Iggy, you're so stupid."

His face broke into a sad smile. "There she is! That nasty bitter girl know and love."

I sighed and rolled off his lap onto the couch beside him. "Iggy," I began. "You know how utterly annoying you-" I stopped and I felt his body go stiff beside me.

"What is it?" I whispered.

He relaxed a little. "Max and Fang. They're about three minutes away. You should go to bed, I'll stay out here."

"But Max told me to wait up for them. Its like my first watch you know." I told him.

Besides the fact that technically, we're not on the run, it wasn't really necessary to have watch. I just wanted to prove to the other kids that I'm not a little kid anymore.

"Why are you so against her?" Iggy asked, staring over my shoulder. I knew he was talking about Max, I just didn't know the answer.

"She treats me like a child." I blurted out.

"Neph, you are a child," he said. "You're thirteen years old. Any normal situation you'd be in school and-"

"You're taking her side in this?" I squeaked. "And this is obviously NOT a normal situation you dumbass! I thought you of all people would understand. I can't believe you! You know I can handle things on my own. Gazzy and Angel are little kids. I'm twice as old as them!" I was gritting my teeth, wanting to scream, storm into my room and slam the door. But I stayed put, I was not going to let him win. Plus, my usual reaction was childish. I was past that now.

Iggy's eyes flashed. "I'm not taking anyone's side you moron! I'm just saying that we're all children! We're just kids! We've all just had to grow up faster than most! You think I don't know you're not a little girl anymore? Trust me, I know. And Max and Fang know too." Iggy's breathing was short and angry, his eyes guarded.

"Max and Fang know what?" Max's voice rang out from the open window, her face flushed from flying. Fang climbed in after her and walked over towards Iggy's spot on the couch.

"What's going on?" Fang's deep voice blended with the darkness.

I flicked my angry eyes towards him. "Nothing." I snapped.

2

I didn't make it to my bed. I collapsed onto the floor and curled up against the wall. I needed to get out of the house, away from Iggy and the other kids. I crawled over to the window on all fours and hoisted myself out. I fell about eight feet and whooshed out my wings, all 12 feet of beautiful brown and white eastern screech owl feathers. I coasted down towards the woods, keeping just above the trees. I decide to go south, opposite of wherever Fang and Max went. Why weren't they back by now? I wondered. It's been what, 4 hours? I bet they just ditched the flock and merged into a cozy flock of two. Well, isn't that just Jim dandy for them? I hope they're happy, living with the guilt.

I felt sick, the trees started blurring together and popping up faster than before. I skidded to a halt on the side of an empty highway. I walked down the middle of the road, trying to take a steady breath. My whole body was twitchy and hot. My throat was parched,


End file.
